Wake Forest-Baylor College Football Preview 8-28-08
August 27, 2008
After a strong finish to the 2007 season, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons open up the 2008 season ranked #23 in the nation. Their opener Thursday against the Baylor Bears will be a good litmus test for a team that appears to be on the verge of becoming a serious threat in the ACC.
Baylor started their 2007 campaign slowly with losses to Boston College and Nebraska before rattling off 6 wins in a row, finishing out their season by winning 9 of their last 11 games including a victory over the Connecticut Huskies in the Meineke Bowl.
Defensively, the Deacons return 9 starters to a team that ranked 14th in the nation in rushing yards allowed, but 67th in passing yards allowed. The team’s secondary obviously needs to make some improvements if they hope to remain in the top 25 rankings for long.
Sports Betting at BetUS.com
The offense will be lead by running back Josh Adams, last season’s ACC rookie of the year, and quarterback Riley Skinner, who lead the nation with a 72.4 completion percentage and who was 2006′s ACC rookie of the year.
Wake’s offensive strategy relies more on controlling the ball and the clock more than putting points on the board, so you can see how they finished with 9-4 record last year despite being ranked 94th in total offense at the end of the season.
If 2007 was any indication of what 2008 will be like for Baylor, it’s going to be another long season for the Bears’ faithful. Baylor is picked to finish dead-last in the Big 12 again, and who can blame the experts for that after the Bears’ 3-9 performance last year.
Baylor gets a new head coach for the 2008 season in Art Briles. Briles has more than a little work to do to get this program headed in the right direction. He will try to keep the Bears out of the cellar in the Big 12 South, a position that Baylor has held in 11 of the 12 seasons that the Big 12 South has existed.
The Baylor defense ranked 111th overall last season and it is hard to imagine them making much of an improvement in 2008 with just 6 returning starters on that side of the ball.
Offensively, the Bears fared a little better than their defensive counterparts, but they were still ranked 86th in total offense and 114th in points scored per game. They can hope for a little improvement from last season with 9 starters returning, but it remains to be seen if they will mesh as an offensive unit, or if it will be more of the same from this Baylor offense.
These two squads haven’t met since 1961, so any prior records or trends are irrelevant. Wake Forest is a team whose stock is on the rise in the ACC. We will see if a new head coach can start Baylor in that same direction in the Big 12.
Game Time: Thursday, August 28th 8:00 PM EST
GAME ODDS:
Wake Forest Demon Deacons -13
Baylor Bears +13
Related Posts
Comments
Got something to say?
Top Cappers
Free Sports Picks - All Cappers
Free NBA Picks [1]
Pick Packages - All Cappers
NBA Picks [2]
NCAA-B Picks [1]